Described as the first “casualty” among the 12-15 young Portuguese who have travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State, Sandro Monteiro – born in Portugal but of Cape Verdean extraction – is understood to have died last month from injuries sustained as a result of allied air strikes in Syria.
Portuguese newspapers have few details on the 36-year-old who grew up in the urban sprawl between Sintra and Lisbon and left Portugal in 2007 for London. But they are aware that the majority of young Portuguese who have become radicalised and are now in Syria grew up in the Sintra region.
Thus relatives left behind live under a security service spotlight, while Público points to the suspected existence of a “safe house” somewhere in the Sintra/Mem Martins/Algueirão area. It is a place where youngsters keen to support IS can ‘hang out’ before taking flights to Turkey from nearby Portela airport.
“In spite of the delicate situation,” writes Público, families have collaborated with Portuguese authorities.
“For many of them, the fact that their children are fighting for IS is a surprise, because when they left for Turkey they said they were going on humanitarian missions, or that they had found work.”
Público stresses that the threat posed by IS to Portugal itself is “moderate”.
